Inspired by teachers, RIT grad opens music studio to teach others
What started as a love of music and inspiration from his teachers has enabled Travis Rankin to fulfill a dream of sharing his passion with students.
Scott Hamilton/RIT
Travis Rankin, an SOIS alum, opened The Rochester Music Lab two years ago to offer music lessons and community outreach programs. “Growing up, I had a lot of really great teachers who were always very encouraging. I feel my life has been very rich with music. It has taken me a lot of places and I’ve met a lot of people and seen a lot of things as a result,” he said.
As soon as he was old enough, Rankin remembers singing in his elementary school chorus and playing trombone in concert band. As he got older, he joined the jazz band, the marching band, and eventually rock bands that got gigs around town.
“We played basements, VFW Halls and even a club on campus at RIT,” he said. “We opened up for Kid Rock at Water Street Music Hall.”
Rankin eventually toured with bands across the United States and parts of Canada. He played music and was involved in recording it, as well as handling the business side, such as the marketing and bookings.
When the touring ended, he was faced with finding a new career. “I always wanted to be a musician, and at the same time, I wanted to be a teacher,” he said. “I’ve always had this voice in my head critiquing my teachers, affirming the way they taught and reached students.”
He enrolled in community college, originally studying communication and media arts, then changing to adolescent education. During that time, he worked with RIT students who sought his help for their senior film projects. “I was writing music for film and making music for video, film, and animation,” he said.
His wife, Stephanie, who received a master’s degree from RIT, encouraged him to transfer to RIT, where he could mold his course of study to visual culture with a focus on music technology and performance through RIT’s School of Individualized Study. And so he did, finishing in December 2022.
“From my previous work with RIT students, it already felt like home,” he said. “Many classes I took in SOIS challenged my thinking and helped me grow. I wrote a business plan as a class assignment for what would turn out to be Rochester Music Lab, and the things we would do.
Two years ago, Rankin opened the 2,500-square-foot studio on the third floor of the Piano Works building in East Rochester. There is an array of drums, guitars, traditional instruments, and plenty of unique instruments, like steel drums, ukuleles, a balafon, technical instruments including keyboards with equalizers, sequencers, theremins, modular synthesizers, even a recording studio that has a capability of recording 32 tracks at a time. Several of the teachers there are RIT alumni.
“We have dozens of students as young as 3 all the way into their 70s,” he said. “We bring drums on site for afterschool enrichment programs and to nursing homes to make music with those living there. We offer music camps and work with students of all ages and abilities teaching music performance, composition, and audio engineering. We let students switch freely between our offerings so they can explore and find their voice. Anything that music touches, we try to be a part of it.”
Rankin credits his RIT professors for urging him to be involved and preparing him to launch and grow his music business, blending his creativity with entrepreneurial skills.
“I had hands-on experience doing things with composing and learning how to use music equipment,” he said. “They instilled a love for teaching and the idea to give all of yourself to your work and others, to always show up and be very persistent.”
Recently, Rankin invited a group of SOIS students, called the SOIS Music Connection, to visit the studio. A surprising number of SOIS students have an interest in music—either as a concentration, minor, immersions, or just enjoyment—and get together to learn, explore, and share ideas about music.
Scott Hamilton/RIT
Eric Blostein, a fourth-year SOIS student focusing on health care management, found a saxophone in The Rochester Music Lab during a recent tour and played a few notes.
“SOIS students often don’t have a group they can bond with. The Music Connection is our effort to create a place where they can learn and bond,” said Thomas Hanney, a principal lecturer who helped coordinate the visit. He said SOIS has been involved with students interested in performing arts for years, and the growth in Performing Arts Scholarships in the past five years has increased the number of musically inclined students throughout campus.
Eric Blostein, a fourth-year SOIS student focusing on health care management, plays in the RIT Jazz Combo and grabbed a saxophone in the studio and played a bit.
“I just kind of jammed out,” he said, and vowed to return to rehearse with his own saxophone. “I think it’s a really great facility that offers a lot of different opportunities for people to learn what they are interested in, whether it’s music or music production.”
After giving a tour of the studio, Rankin sat with the students to share his experiences and offer advice.
“I took a lot of the same classes you guys are taking now,” he told them. “And I found a way I could merge music with teaching to suit my interests. Find a way to merge your interests and if what you do is good work and you put yourself out there, you’ll be successful.”
Jason Salazar Tobar, a fourth-year SOIS student from Mt. Kisco, N.Y., was one of the students who visited.
“Music has always been important to me, helping me through my rough times and amplifying my favorite times,” he said. “I want to merge extended reality and music together, creating more immersive music experiences, and using sound design to better the immersion of an extended reality experience. I hope to work for music venues and festivals creating immersive graphics for artists.”
Rankin invited the students to return if they wanted to explore the studio or use the equipment in the future.
“I love school projects and figured if there is anything they wanted to use at the lab that may help in their studies, we would love to have them,” Rankin said. “The students who visited seemed very bright and had unique interests. They all seemed very cool.”
Salazar Tobar said Rankin’s offer of further exploring the studio “sounds amazing.”
“Having a studio like that is very impressive and what he is doing is great,” he said. “I always admire someone who goes into teaching because it’s not an easy thing.”
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A native of Williamsport, Pa., Pophal held various leadership positions at Eastman Kodak Company from 1981 to 2006, helping oversee more than a billion dollars in digital imaging technology revenue generation go from the research lab to commercialization. He received a degree in 1982 from RIT in photographic sciences and instrumentation and taught part time at RIT in the 1980s. In 2018, Pophal returned to RIT as an adjunct professor to teach students in multiple fields, including serving as an innovation coach in the Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was soon hired full-time. “I wanted to put a capstone on my career and come back to RIT to teach,” Pophal said. “I can have more of an impact working with young people and teaching them how to solve problems. I try not to tell them what to think, I want to teach them how to think, how to solve problems. These young persons at RIT now are our futures. We really need them right now.” Pophal mainly works with fifth-year students who will graduate after their capstone projects. He calls them “phenomenally smart. I have no concern about their technical skills, but what I like to do is teach them how to work within a team, and the use of best practices on how to commercialize these new products. These new minds are untethered, and they are way smarter than we are. They come out with solutions we would never have thought of.” Pophal served on the board of directors for the former Lakeside Health Systems in Brockport, N.Y., until 2008. In the town of Sweden, where he lives, he was asked to work with the town’s attorney to help write laws on solar power, battery storage, and wind farms. The Davis Award comes with $2,500 which will be donated to a charity of the recipient’s choice. Pophal says the donation will go to the Seymour Library in Brockport, where he serves on the board of trustees and is chairman of facilities, overseeing an extensive internal remodeling. In his spare time, Pophal enjoys camping and taking his recreation vehicle along the east coast, particularly to his native Pennsylvania. He lives with Mary Ellen Warner, his partner for more than 20 years, and their two dogs, Emma, a golden retriever, and Gabby, a Yorkshire terrier. Helping others and the community Christian Waldschmidt thought he’d like to be an engineer when he was a youngster growing up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Allison Park, Pa. “I always liked playing with Legos and anytime my dad was fixing things in the garage, I would see if I could help,” he said. “In high school, I liked physics and math and realized engineering was right for me.” His focus turned to biomedical engineering after working in a pharmacy when he was in high school. While at RIT, he completed a co-op with Thermo Fisher, a Rochester-area company that designs medical equipment and pharmaceutical devices. After graduation in May, he’ll work at a co-op at a medical manufacturer in Pittsburgh which he hopes will lead to a full-time job there. “I like helping people,” Waldschmidt said. “I feel that applying my skillset may help improve lives and even save lives. There’s a big need in the health care industry right now to be more efficient.” He has volunteered countless hours on many projects to help others on and off campus, yet he said he feels a bit dumbfounded winning this award because he knows there are so many other students who also volunteer in the community. He’s nailed wooden frames with other RIT students during the annual Framing Frenzy event for Habitat for Humanity, and often spent weekends as a building supervisor overseeing student efforts on-site in Batavia, N.Y. where Habitat homes were being erected. Along with his award comes $1,000 to designate to a charity of his choice. “I’m very glad I get to send money to Habitat for Humanity because I worked for them since freshman year. They helped me grow as a person and it makes me happy that I can help them,” he said. Maintaining a 3.76 GPA and being a member of RIT’s Biomedical Engineering Society, he enjoys being active, “nerdy,” playing board games, hiking, playing soccer, disc golf, and working with his 3D printer. “My first semester at RIT, I wanted to join everything,” he said. “There were just so many opportunities that were presented. That was really helpful for me and my time while at RIT, the people I’ve met and the relationships I’ve made have driven me to be the person I am now.” He’s a member of Pi Kappa Phi and Phi Sigma Pi fraternities and helped raise more than $1,000 for the American Cancer Society during RIT’s Relay for Life. He also helped organize an RIT campus cleanup as well as a series of cleanups at an area Buddhist temple, and helped coordinate student volunteer efforts with residents of St. John’s nursing home in Rochester. And Waldschmidt spent a winter break with other RIT biomedical engineering students volunteering at a hospital in Guatemala to repair 58 medical devices, including monitors, ventilators, and infant incubators. “I grew up with a mindset of helping others,” he said. “My parents always felt showing kindness was a good virtue. I really want to show that if you lead by example, that will spread and help others share kindness as well.” About the awards: The Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award Fund was created in 2003 by RIT Vice President Emeritus Alfred L. Davis on the occasion of the 65th year of his association with RIT, to commemorate the dedication of the four RIT presidents - Mark Ellingson, Paul Miller, M. Richard Rose, and Albert Simone - with whom he worked, in their service to the Rochester community. The award also recognizes a current member of the faculty or staff who, through his/her public service, mirrors the lives of the four presidents, who have been not only outstanding professionals but also caring members of the community. In 2005 Davis established a companion student award to commemorate the outstanding service of RIT trustee Bruce R. James. The Bruce R. James ’64 Distinguished Public Service Award commemorates the public service of Bruce James, chairman emeritus of the RIT Board of Trustees recognizes an RIT student for exemplary public service in the community with hopes other students will engage in public service.
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